Veteran character actress Esther Scott has passed away at the age of 66. TMZ is reporting the cause of death as a heart attack she suffered last Tuesday in her home in Santa Monica, California. She was hospitalized for several days before eventually passing away on Friday.
“She loved what she did,” her sister, Shaun, told the outlet. “She would get stopped on the street often and people would recognize her — but they didn’t know her name. Hopefully, now people will remember her name, her work and the contributions she gave to the entertainment industry.”
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Scott’s first role was as the voice of Shodu in The Ewoks animated series back in 1986. Five years later, she’d land the role of Tisha’s grandmother in John Singleton‘s Oscar-nominated classic, Boyz n the Hood. Over the years, she bounced in-between film and TV appearing in everything from Encino Man to Full House to Beverly Hills, 90210 and You Got Served.
In 2002, Scott played a judge in Austin Powers in Goldmember and returned to her voice acting roots in 2013 voicing the local population in the Rockstar video game Grand Theft Auto V. It would seem that Scott retired from acting in 2016, the same year she appeared in Nate Parker’s stirring historical drama The Birth of a Nation, as well as a guest role on CBS’ medical drama Pure Genius.
Scott’s death comes less than a year after Singleton himself, who wrote and directed Boyz n the Hood. Singleton died in April of last year after complications as a result of a stroke. Following his debut with Boyz n the Hood, Singleton went on to direct 2 Fast 2 Furious, as well as episodes of Empire, American Crime Story and Billions.
After news of his passing started to spread, a number of celebrities spoke out in memory of the groundbreaking filmmaker. One of them was 2 Fast 2 Furious star, Ludacris, who posted a photo of him with Singleton at the time. “I honestly can’t even find the words right now,” he wrote in the caption. “This one hurts bad. Singing off social media for a while.”
In 2017, Singleton debuted Snowfall on FX, a sprawling look at the cocaine epidemic of the 1980s. Back in August, the show was renewed for a fourth season by the network after his death.
